The Honeyeaters’ Tree (15% Off)

Flights booked through to Auckland; so too introductory hotel nights in Singapore, Perth and Adelaide; car for Western Australia; van to get me to Cairns. Saturday, November 22, 2008, mid-morning I stowed myself, new suitcase and small backpack into a taxi for the first two miles down to the station. I wasn’t going to make a habit of taxis but I certainly wasn’t piling that lot into a Redditch bus.

Taxis, cars, flights – my environmental footprint would be stamped large on the planet. Not that large in the grand scheme: for a start I’ve never had children so 2.4 lifetimes of credit were immediately available. 2.4 First World lifetimes, plus a dog.

At the last moment the Lonely Planet went in. It was big and heavy but no way had I gleaned even the surface of it. Rather like stowing a life-jacket, the move paid off. My copy didn’t get as battered as some specimens I saw on my way round but it did get much use. I had to take prices with a pinch of disbelief, thanks to a two-year publishing lag. For the same reason, some places had gone out of business but I wouldn’t have got round to seeing others, like that ram in Wagin…

Also indispensible, big and heavy, even as a paperback, was my Simpson & Day. For a field guide it does carry sections you don’t need in the field but, with Australia’s huge avifauna, I figured no countrywide book was ever going to be that compact. In it went.

The train up to Birmingham gave me and the library an easy walking connection with the Marylebone Flyer. At about fif­teen quid, I was already saving money on getting to London. I didn’t need the fastest route: my flight wasn’t until mid-evening and Chiltern Railways take you through… well, the Chilterns, stamping ground of red kites and a good start to the trip list. ⇒

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